Monday, September 15, 2008

10 Essential Books in my Genealogy Library

There are "essential" books and "really useful" books in my genealogy library. They are often not the same works.

The "essential" books - those that I need to consult on an occasional basis, include (in no particular order):

1) Evidence Explained: Citing History Sources from Artifacts to Cyberspace by Elizabeth Shown Mills

2) The Family Tree Problem Solver: Proven Methods for Scaling the Inevitable Brick Wall by Marsha Hoffman Rising

3) Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case by Christine Rose

4) The BCG Genealogical Standards Manual by Board for Certification Of Genealogists

5) Professional Genealogy: A Manual for Researchers, Writers, Editors, Lecturers, and Librarians edited by Elizabeth Shown Mills

6) The Researcher's Guide to American Genealogy, Third Edition by Val D. Greenwood

7) Courthouse Research for Family Historians: Your Guide to Genealogical Treasures by Christine Rose

8) Land & Property Research in the United States by E Wade Hone

9) Your Guide to the Federal Census by Kathleen Hinckley

10) They Became Americans: Finding Naturalization Records and Ethnic Origins by Loretto Dennis Szucs

The publications that have been most useful to me in my research have been specific to certain localities - especially New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. They include:

1) Genealogist's handbook for New England research by Marcia Wiswall Lindberg

2) Mayflower Families Through 5 Generations (Volume Three): Family of George Soule / With Addendum by Anne Harding

3) Mayflower Families Through Five Generations (Vol. 13: William White) by Robert M. Sherman, Ruth W. Sherman, and Robert S. Wakefield

4) Mayflower Families Through Five Generations: Descendants of the Pilgrims Who Landed at Plymouth, Mass., December 1620 (Vol. 18, Richard Warren (3 Volumes) by Robert S. Wakefield

5) Mayflower Families Through Five Generations (Vol. 12: Francis Cooke) by Ralph Van Wood.

6) The great migration begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633 (3 Volumes) by Robert Charles Anderson

7) Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635 (7 Volumes) by Robert Charles Anderson, George Freeman Sanborn, Melinde Lutz Sanborn, and New England Historic Genealogical Society

8) The Town Records of Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1647 to 1730: Being Volume One of the Original by Robert J. Dunkle and Ann S. Lainhart

9) Plymouth Colony: Its History and People by Eugene Aubrey Stratton

10) History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts, 1650 - 1886 by William S. Tilden

11) Early Germans of New Jersey: Their History, Churches and Genealogies by Hermann Theodore F. Chambers

12) New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1847-2008) quarterly edited and published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society

13) The American Genealogist (1922-2008) quarterly edited and published privately.

Oops, more than ten. Oh well. I don't own all of the above - especially the Great Migration books, but I've obtained a wealth of information from them.

There are many more - I've listed my own genealogy library at LibraryThing.

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